


Blue Heart Event: Enter Villain's Vale On Any Sunny Day

by Live



Series: Strifehart Winter Week 2017 [3]
Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Food Issues, He's In So Much Denial He Doesn't Believe He Loves Leon, Healing, Hope, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Relationship, Or At Least Implied Healing, See It Gets It's Own Tag, That's Also Cloud's Fault, That's Cloud's Fault, There's Some Hope Though, These Two Just Have A Lot Of Issues In This, sleeping issues, strifehartWinterWeek2k17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 07:35:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13162293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Live/pseuds/Live
Summary: Day 3 of Strifehart Winterweek 2017: Christmas Future or LightsCloud returns from his fight with Sephiroth worse than before...





	Blue Heart Event: Enter Villain's Vale On Any Sunny Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a nice, subtle, getting together fic T^T
> 
> (Also the title is meant to be Harvest Moon inspired for no reason other than: why not?)

Since Cloud had returned from fighting Sephiroth the man had somehow become even more cagey and isolated. Tifa had brought him back bloody, injured, but victorious. After Aerith had finished healing him everyone expected the man to be a little more open... a little friendlier. Maybe be even a little more sociable; instead he spent most days avoiding all human interaction.

Tifa lamented, Aerith sighed, Yuffie complained and Cid rolled his eyes. Leon himself was a little disoriented by the whole ordeal, but was reluctant to admit it. Somewhere over the last year of Cloud being returned to them, he had gotten used to Cloud being nearby to either work in silence with or snark with. When Cloud came back he thought it would go back to that, but well... The silence that surrounded Leon as he worked was the type of silence that made one question if they had gone deaf (or insane). 

Leon huffed out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. It’s not like he was expecting Cloud to come back rainbows and sunshine (he’d be the first to say he DIDN’T want THAT), but this? This was worse... hadn’t everyone said beating Sephiroth would heal some of the darkness lurking in his heart? Now it almost felt like Cloud’s heart was completely out of reach...

Leon abandoned his work (for the first time in his existence). Grabbed his gun blade (not that it was ever far away from him). And headed towards Villain’s Vale (he had no doubt he’d find Cloud there).

Villain’s Vale was as dark and foreboding as it ever was. A ravine of treacherous falls and jagged edges, a place wild life struggled to grow and blossom (even the weeds were seemingly crushed by the weight of darkness oozing off the walls). It wasn’t somewhere Leon would wish to send anyone, it definitely wasn’t a place he wanted one of his friends living in. 

But, that’s what he finds. Cloud has set camp in one of the hard to reach corners of the area. It’s a spot that’s mostly covered by large rocky outcrops, but with enough space to safely fight and plenty of options to flee if a battle turned dire. It’s also a spot that overlooks the surrounding area. Leon decides to take it as a positive sign that Cloud didn’t flee on sight.

“What are you doing out here?” Leon asks once he’s up on the outcropping. Trying to ignore the fact that Cloud had just watched him awkwardly climb up to be eye level.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Cloud had returned, being as difficult and contrary as ever.

“But, you didn’t,” Leon folds his arms over his chest and leans the weight of his body on one leg: enunciating his displeasure with Cloud’s response visually. “I did. So answer.”

“Fighting Heartless,” Cloud shrugs. “What else is there to do out here?”

“Not much,” Leon agrees, his eyes scanning over Cloud. The man looks a little on the thinner side than usual, but Leon’s not sure if that’s from his fight with Sephiroth or from avoiding his friends (not having the chance to see Cloud when he first came back). It’s been 34 days since he last properly saw the blonde sword wielder. His chest is left with an awkward mix of feeling both light and heavy at once. “So, that can’t possibly explain why you’ve been out here this long.”

“Killing Heartless is a full time occupation,” Cloud shrugs. 

“Not for you,” Leon disagrees, partly because his mind thinks of Sora who’s always being sent out there to piece their worlds back together, and partly because Cloud is trying to end their conversation before it starts (and Cloud might not be the most sociable person, but he’s never one to disregard his friends so completely).

“It could be,” Cloud smirks (a forced thing that doesn’t instil any confidence in Leon). “Turns out I’m pretty good at getting rid of darkness.”

And, that’s an opening to ask Cloud what exactly happened with Sephiroth. To find out what’s causing him to run away now, but... “You still need to take a break and a moment to rest,” Leon is more concerned about Cloud’s health.

“You should take your own advice,” Cloud huffs, grabbing his sword and turning away from Leon.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Leon raises a brow, his voice cracking oddly, (and all the while debating whether he should follow Cloud or not). 

“Never leaving those books and screens isn’t doing you any favours,” Cloud explains, glancing back at Leon once more. “I bet even if you tried to sleep at night thoughts on restoring the town would keep you up.”

And then Cloud jumps down, walking further into the darkness of Villain’s Vale. 

Leon rests in his actual bed that night instead of the desks he’s become well acquainted with over the year or so of restoration. Cloud’s right about Leon struggling to fall asleep. Cloud’s wrong about the subject matter...

———

The next day finds Leon traversing the terrain of Villain’s Vale once more. His trusty gun blade at his side and food, boxed, in hand. His goal is the same as yesterday: reach Cloud.

Cloud finds him this time. Leon sees him as a blur of blacks and yellows from the corner of his vision and draws his blade, instinct warning him of an ambush. When he turns to defend himself, he’s met with Cloud’s smug face (Cloud will deny being able to pull a smug face, but Leon knows what the tilt of his mouth and eyebrow mean).

“What are you doing out here?” Cloud has his hands raised in surrender as though Leon would ever actually use his weapon against him.

With a huff Leon hauls his blade back to his side. “Bringing you something to eat.”

“I’m not starving out here you know,” Cloud intones, his voice going to that soft level it does when he wants to assure other people that he’s fine and they can leave him alone (the tone of voice Leon will forever dub: lying-sounds-better-when-delivered-softly).

“I tried sleeping,” Leon begins and Cloud blinks (unaware of Leon’s trump card). “The least you can do is try eating.”

Cloud sighs, but consents (however reluctantly). 

They find themselves sitting at the edge of one of the cliff ledges that look over a dark abyss. It’s not a reasonable resting place: the view isn’t great, their position could lead to an easy flank and they could easily fall to their deaths. Still, they sit beside each other, their legs dangling off the edge; the box of food sat between them.

Cloud’s taken a glove off for his attempt at eating. “Doughnuts?” He asks amused.

“I admit, I’m not the healthiest eater when left to my own devices,” Leon shrugs unapologetic, doughnuts taste great.

“Don’t let the girls know that,” Cloud snorts. Tifa would force him to eat a balance diet, Yuffie would tease him relentlessly and Aerith... well she’d probably steal them, while making him feel bad about it.

“Tell me about it,” Leon intones. “Tifa’s been handing out lunchboxes since you’ve both come back. She’s not giving me a chance to eat junk food.”

“How do you maintain you ‘girlish’ figure if all you do is sit around and eat junk all day,” Cloud teases (and that tight feeling in Leon’s chest is back, both an airy and lead-like sensation). 

“Guess it’s the extra exercise from no hours of sleep,” Leon grins.

“I thought you said you tried?” Cloud raises an eyebrow.

“I said I tried, never said I succeeded.” Cloud shakes his head in disbelief but begins eating his doughnut. Already showing more signs of success than Leon’s attempt at sleep.

“You know the weight loss was from fighting Sephiroth, right?” Cloud admits, slowing making his way through his doughnut.

Leon doesn’t say anything.

“My fight with Sephiroth... well it went on for a while and it’s not like he’d willingly give me a moment to rest or eat,” Cloud shrugs, like it’s nothing. Like that wasn’t a struggle. “It’s not like I have a problem with eating.”

“Then why haven’t you gained that weight back?” Leon asks, and maybe it’s not wise to ask such an accusing question, but Leon needs to understand.

“I’ve gained some weight,” Cloud defends, never responding well to those kind of questions.

“Not enough,” Leon argues, never one to leave a friend in pain.

“It’ll come back,” Cloud finishes his first doughnut and starts the next. “Stop worrying.”

“I’m not,” Leon huffs.

Cloud snorts.

They’re left with silence and the loneliness of the dark abyss below. 

Cloud manages to finish off half the box before he hands it back over to Leon. “Don’t deny it, you’ve probably skipped one or two meals in the last 24 hours. You finish them.”

That night Leon doesn’t try to sleep. He doesn’t try to work on any restoration either though. Instead he paces, he thinks and he thinks he gets it.

———

The next day leads Leon down the same path as the previous two. Down narrow winding paths that lead to the natural habitat of the Heartless. Down narrow winding paths that lead to the temporary habitat of one Cloud Strife.

This time he is privy to one of the many battle Cloud has been fighting down here. Leon draws his sword. Pulls the trigger on the gun attached, dispatching a Heartless that got a little too close to Cloud, before rushing to his side.

“I get to see you fight twice in the same year?” Cloud says the second Leon’s got his back. “It’s either my lucky year or your unlucky one.”

“I’m going with the third option: my lucky one,” Leon smirks. “It’s not often I get to be this close and personal with you after all.”

Cloud chokes out a “what?”, but Leon chooses to believe that it’s from surprise as the Heartless rush them. After all he refuses to believe Cloud didn’t see flirtatious banter was the next step in their relationship. Because, it always was going to be, even if Leon only realised it last night.

The Heartless don’t cause them grief for too long. The two of them have always been the best fighters in their group of friends, it’s completely unsurprising they’d finish them off so quickly. Especially Heartless as weak as those.

“Why are you avoiding going back in town?” Leon asks at the same time Cloud questions: “what was that?”

And Leon should really be pushing his question. It was important, but... He smirks. “What was what?”

“The... the flirting,” and now Cloud sounds unsure, which is not want Leon wants. Leon was hoping to see a flustered Cloud, but oh well-

“’m not an insomniac,” Leon explains.

“Yes you are,” Cloud hauls his sword onto his back with a sigh. “And what does that have to do with what you said?”

“The only times I struggle to sleep are when you aren’t around,” Leon expands, he was really hoping a few subtle words would be sufficient enough, but apparently not. “The reason I’m so tired is because I’m worried about you.”

“You worry about everyone,” Cloud reasons.

“But, I don’t lose sleep over it,” Leon shakes his head. Looks like he needs to be even simpler for Cloud. Make it so there’s no way his words can be denied or misconstrued. “I like you, romantically.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Cloud backs up ever so slightly, like physical distance could actually change anything as intangible as emotions.

“If you think that, fine,” Leon says it as reasonably as he possibly can, because he wants Cloud’s opinions on these kind of things (all kinds of things). “I’m not here to force a relationship on you.”

“Then... why?”

“An explanation,” and this is the more important part of today. He needs this answer. “You’re avoiding town, hurting your own health to avoid going anywhere near it, why?”

“Leon, it’s not important-”

“The hell it is!” Leon interrupts. “Your health and safety is my top priority.”

“If it’s because of your feelings then don’t bother,” Cloud looks away. “I already turned Tifa down to stop her worrying.”

“That’s not how it works Cloud,” Leon groans, Cloud has to be purposefully making this difficult. He has to be, right? “Feelings don’t disappear just because you don’t return them. And I’m asking, yes because I like you, but more importantly because you’re my friend. I’d do this for everyone else as well.”

There’s silence and then as though something had ripped it from Cloud he mutters one word. “Sephiroth.” It echoes into the darkness of Villain’s Vale around them. Resounds into Cloud’s heart.

“You killed him right?” Leon prompts, because Cloud needs to start giving them more. ‘Sephiroth’, may explain everything for Cloud, but they weren’t mind readers. They need to understand how this is effecting him. 

“Sephiroth is... was my darkness. I defeated him, yes, but...” Cloud rubs his neck, looking everywhere but Leon. “I thought if I defeated him my darkness would cease to exist, but it’s still here. It’s inside me.”

Cloud’s hand moves from his neck to his chest and rests there. Over his heart.

“When Sephiroth was around before, you never tried to avoid us,” Leon mutters, trying to understand what was different this time. 

“I thought I could get rid of him. I thought we lived in Hallow Bastion.”

“We do. I mean it’s really Radiant Garden, but-”

“Radiant Garden, the world of light, you really think one of its citizens should be filled with darkness like me?” Cloud snorts. “It’s better for everyone if I’m not there.”

“That’s not true,” Leon insists. “If you were really a part of the darkness you think you’d fight the Heartless off as relentlessly as you do? You think you’d avoid everyone, because you think they’re safer that way? If you were as dark as you’re claiming you wouldn’t care about us. We wouldn’t care about you.”

Leon holds his hand out.

“We wouldn’t keep dragging you back home.”

“I’m... It’s still not a good idea,” Cloud insists, shaking his head.

“Cloud, even if your darkness tries to hurt anyone, it’s your light that keeps you fighting back. Believe in that,” and Leon believes in it, he can remember a time when they were small children and the light surrounding Cloud grew bright and blinding. It’s not any less bright now, even with the darkness lurking around it. He’ll make Cloud believe in it, and the first step is making him waver in his belief that he’s only filled with darkness (Leon’s pretty sure he’s already started, what with the way Cloud stares at his hand).

“This... if I go back with you, it won’t mean I’ll date you,” Cloud tries one last argument, tries to have Leon give up on him. 

“That’s fine… It’s not like I’d be asking for your hand in marriage anytime soon anyways,” Leon smirks. More than happy to be single as long as Cloud is safe, as long as he doesn’t lose anyone else.

It’s reluctant, but… Cloud takes his hand.

**Author's Note:**

> I've got to admit, I got no sleep last night and I have been running around all day in the rain to get RL stuff done, so wasn't sure I'd get this all wrote out in time, but BOYAH!!!!! Just before midnight!!!! I hope my sleepy mind was able to correctly edit/make some sense of this!!!! And sorry for the angst, I tried to make/put as much cuteness and hope in it as possible. I promise some when after this fic Leon DOES ask for Cloud's hand in marriage and Cloud accepts (all the while being like: I thought you wouldn't be asking ME that anytime soon) and it's all sweet and snarky like the two of them!!! It's just they got to sort out their problems before they can even start dating!!!!
> 
> Right Imma post this on Tumblr real quick and then SLEEEEEEEPPPPPPP, see you guys tomorrow!!!! <3


End file.
